Tag Archives: pastels

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Resilient, Determined, Competitive, and Disciplined – Western Avenue Studios Artist Association (WASAA) member Susan Drennan is diligently getting ready to go back to school on August 29th. A non-traditional student, Susan is a retired mother of four from Danvers who is currently a junior (majoring in painting and minoring in curatorial studies) at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA. This semester, she will be enrolled in a painting class, an art history course on Greek and Roman Art, and an independent study.

A Love of Painting – Susan started painting when she was 20 years old and enjoys the “different state of mind” she reaches when she’s focused on painting. She usually has multiple projects going at once and she likes to work in the following four mediums: oil, acrylic, pastel, and watercolor. A lover of the outdoors, she often engages in plein air painting and when the weather doesn’t cooperate, she retreats to her quiet studio. Because she believes in using her God-given talent, Susan paints every day. As a goal-oriented person who likes a challenge, she hopes to get into a plein air art festival as well as teach painting classes one day. Lately, she’s been working on loosening up her style by engaging in timed painting exercises. This lover of cartoons, color, and coffee provided the following advice for young artists: “Practice drawing (perspective, value, composition) as much as you can. Paint what you want, and don’t be afraid to fail because every time you paint you learn.”

Varied Work and Life Experiences – Susan has been a homeschooler, a technical illustrator, a cake shop owner, a clown, a metal chipper and grinder, a New England School of Art & Design (NESAD) student, a kitchen worker at Gordon College, a personal trainer, a competitive body builder, and a portrait artist. She moved into Western Avenue Studios approximately 18 months ago. Her first studio was located on the fourth floor, but she recently moved down to the second floor C/D mill. An advocate for repurposing and reusing, Susan often checks out Western Avenue’s Free Cycle area for materials she can put to good use. For example, the beautiful wood portion of her studio floor came from Free Cycle as did her work space cabinet and table top.

Visiting Western Avenue Studios and Lofts – If you come by to visit Susan, a comfy chair awaits you on the far side of her studio, and provides a great view of her salon-style gallery. Her fine art is also visible on her website: susandrennanart.com and her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/susandrennan.finearts/. In addition, Susan plans to have a 20% sale in her studio during Artoberfest (10/6, 10/7) and Holiday Open Studios (12/1, 12/2, 12/8, 12/9).

Western Avenue Studios and Western Avenue Lofts form the largest artist community of our kind on the East Coast, if not the country. Starting with 31 studios and 45 artists on one floor of one building in 2005 we have grown to 245 studios offering work space to more than 280 artists and 50 live/work lofts offering 70 artists the opportunity to live and work in a nurturing and supportive environment.